Student-designed independent projects are those in which you

• Pursue an original project where the outcome or answer is unknown.
• Generate direction for the project in collaboration with a faculty mentor.
• Take ownership and responsibility for the work.
• Strive to meet professional standards appropriate to the discipline.
• Engage and/or share outcomes with the wider disciplinary or local community.
• Are guided by consistent and active faculty mentoring.
• Practice structured reflection throughout the project with guidance from your faculty mentor.

The Faculty Review Committee will also consider projects in which the faculty member has designed the scope of the project, as long as you have a significant role in the collaboration.

Most scholars pursue their projects in Ithaca or the local area and make use of campus resources (such as art supplies, library archives, software on campus computers, etc.). Due to current uncertainties around pandemic restrictions, however, we understand that your plans for in-person projects may have to be altered. Therefore, we are relaxing our residency expectations for summer 2021.

In the application, we ask you to discuss whether the project you propose is intended to be implemented as a remote project or an in-person project. If your project is in-person, we also ask whether the project can be implemented in a remote way should pandemic restrictions require it, and if so, how.

We also normally expect that faculty mentors are staying in Ithaca during the summer to provide active mentoring to you throughout the time you are working on your project. Again, due to current uncertainties around pandemic restrictions, we are relaxing this expectation for mentors as well.

It is critical, therefore, that you establish clear plans with your mentor for how your mentoring relationship will proceed during the summer, and whether they are willing to engage in remote mentoring if one or both of you are not living in Ithaca. We still expect active mentoring to take place and that, together, you will find ways to meet regularly, even if in a virtual manner. In your application, we ask you to explain clearly how you and your Faculty Mentor will stay in regular contact in order to meet the goals both of your project and of the Summer Scholar program.

The Review Committee considers the following criteria in their review of applications:

• Proposals that are professionally written, that clearly express your voice, and that persuasively describe your ownership of/leadership role in the project.
• Projects that have a clear and coherent design, including both well-defined goals and feasible implementation plans.
• Evidence that you have sufficient preparation (through coursework or previous experience) to effectively engage in the project.
• Evidence that you have collaborated with your faculty mentor on the project design and there is a clear plan for active mentoring by your faculty mentor. (Note: your faculty mentor must also submit an application.).

In addition to these criteria, the Program also endeavors to have a variety of disciplines represented by the Scholars' projects, and gives preference to students who have not yet had the opportunity to be a Summer Scholar

Our Scholars develop ePortfolios to document and reflect on their experiences at the conclusion of the summer. Below is a selection from the past two summers. 

Creative Work - Dean Shinner '21 Art (BFA)

• Faculty mentor: Dara Engler, Art
• Project: The Seeker's Tarot

Creative Work - Andrew Lackland '21 Art (BFA)

• Faculty mentor: Christina Leung, Art
• Project: Civility after Fallout

Field-Based Studies - Rachael Geary '21, Anthropology

• Faculty mentor: David Turkon, Anthropology
• Project: Church Affiliation and Generational Shifts: An Ethnographic Examination of Local Christian Perspectives and Practices

Scholarship - Matthew Attanasio '21, English

• Faculty mentor: Hugh Egan, English
• Project:  An Interrogation of Masculinity and Gayness in Hemingway's Fiction

Research - Grayson Stevens '21, Applied Psychology

• Faculty mentor:  Sociology Professor
• Project: Cis-temic Problems: Exploring Transphobia in the United States